At table 12, both of these players had a shot at making it to Day 2 despite having two losses to their name. Shane is the multiple Jump-winning competitor from Team Overdose who has become a mainstay on the circuit, while Robert Lim has a wicked Macro Cosmos/Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi deck to his name from the 50th Jump in Costa Mesa. Last time we checked in with Shane, he lost a Gladiator Beast mirror match to Jessy Samek, but he’ll have another chance here to potentially make Day 2 if he can beat Robert Lim. Lim has the very same opportunity, but only if he can get his Dark Armed Dragon deck to overcome the Gladiator Beasts. This matchup hasn’t gone well for the forces of darkness today, and with Shane Scurry behind the wheel of the Gladiator Beats, Robert is going to have his work cut out for him. The table was chosen for a random deck check, and Robert had a shout out to give to Sportscards Mint Team Fusion and his girlfriend Alys Hugo. Shane had his own shout out for the rest of the Overdose crew. Kris then leaned over and inquired if he could have Shane give a shout out to Kris’ friend Cherish with the message “Have fun in Jamaica!” I think we can manage.
The decks were returned, and both players had to shuffle up again. Shane won the roll and opted to go first, starting with a set to each zone. Robert dropped Reinforcement of the Army to grab Stratos, but Mind Crush took it away from him before he had a chance to play it! Premature Burial brought the Stratos back up, and Robert activated its effect to search for Destiny Hero - Malicious. Destiny Draw traded out the Malicious for two cards, and Stratos swung straight into Gladiator Beast Hoplomus. At the end of the battle phase, Hoplomus tagged out for Bestiari, and Premature Burial was gone. Stratos went with it, and Lim passed with no backfield. For some reason, Shane looked very displeased, and he added a Laquari to his board, swinging for 3300 damage in the battle phase. This halved Robert’s life points, and at the end of the battle phase, Bestiari went back to the deck in favor of Laquari. Bestiari then switched for Hoplomus, and Shane set two cards to his back row to finish out the turn.
Lim was paying dearly for hitting that Hoplomus, and he ended up removing Malicious to fetch the other one from his deck. He set a monster to go along with it and passed over to Shane, who thought for quite a while about his next move. Another Laquari joined his forces, and Shane sent it into battle against Lim’s face-down monster, sending Sangan to the graveyard. Sangan fetched out Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, the other Laquari bashed Malicious, and Hoplomus hit for 700. Hoplomus tagged out for Darius who was without target, and all three were sent back to the deck to summon Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. Play was back to Robert, and he threw down Brain Control. Shane dropped his Swords of Revealing Light to negate it, and Robert was down to 1800. Heavy Storm was next, and Shane threw away Book of Moon to negate it. Destiny Draw pitched Fear Monger, and Shane had no response or any cards in hand. Lim set two spell or trap cards and a monster, and play was back to Shane. Phoenix Wing Wind Blast flipped on Shane’s side of the board to put Robert’s monster back on top of the deck, and it was enough to earn the scoop! Shane wasn’t very happy with how he played the game, but he still pulled it out to go up one game to none!
Both player’s chances in this event were hinging on this next game, and they side decked in silence before Shane remarked on how much more stressful the once-a-year National Championships are than a Jump. “You don’t top, you got one next week! With this, you gotta wait a whole year!” he remarked. “Tell me about stress the next time you judge U.S. Nationals,” replied the feature match judge, Simon Choy. I’d say he’s got a point there. Robert was up first in game 2, and he passed with no plays. Hoplomus came down and hit for free before switching out for Laquari and setting a spell or trap. Fear Monger was pitched to Destiny Draw on Lim’s side of the board, and he set a monster and two spell or trap cards before passing. Shane added Prisma to the board and claimed priority for its effect, sending Bestiari tothe graveyard to give Prisma its name. Both the newly minted Bestiari and Laquari were sent back to the deck for Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, and Shane targeted Lim’s Threatening Roar and Sangan. The Roar was chained, and Sangan fetched out a Cyber Valley for Lim. Shane was done, and in the end phase Lim flipped Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, pitching Malicious to spin Shane’s set card. Dark Armed Dragon came down for Lim in doubles, and Brain Control had Shane picking up his cards! Lim scores a quick win in game 2 to force the match to a third game.
If I had to pick a working definition of stressful, it’d be something along the lines of, “Being Shane Scurry or Robert Lim right now.” Both players were one game away from either total defeat or the bitter prize of hoping their tiebreakers would take them through to Day 2. Shane declined a break when offered and started off with a set spell or trap before passing. Lim picked up his sixth card, and Elemental Hero Stratos came down allowing Lim to fetch out Disk Commander. Stratos swung for 1800 directly, and Lim set two cards to his back row before passing. Shane added another card to his back row and then passed his turn with no monsters. Lim dropped Disk Commander to Phoenix Wing Wind Blast to spin the freshly set card, and Premature Burial came down to try and bring Commander back. D.D. Crow from Shane stopped things from getting too out of hand, but he still had to eat 1800 damage from Stratos. Lim passed his turn, and Shane was up.
He smiled for the first time in the match as he drew, but it was more of a “Why me?” smile than an “I got game” smile. Secutor came down for Shane, and he swung on Stratos, throwing down a Book of Moon to make the attack worthwhile. Solemn Judgment hit him hard though, negating the Book and sending Secutor to his doom. The score stood at 3600 to 3000 in Lim’s favor, and Shane set a spell or trap card before passing. Robert Lim stared intently at his cards, wanting to win right now but not wanting to chance a Torrential or Mirror Force. He dropped Reinforcement of the Army anyway to fetch out Dark Grepher. Shane was holding Monster Reborn and Premature Burial—not useful with no monsters worth bringing back, but he would get another turn as Lim simply attacked with Stratos without playing any new monsters. A set to each zone was next for Lim, and he passed over to Shane, who drew into Elemental Hero Prisma! If there was one card he needed, that was the one, as he could use it with his revival cards to pull out Gladiator Beast Gyzarus and punch through Lim’s field. He summoned Prisma and activated to turn it into a Bestiari. Shane paid down to 400 life points to bring back Gladiator Beast Secutor, and Robert thought for a moment before deciding what to do.
He used Torrential Tribute to wipe the field in response to the summon of Secutor, and Shane was left with two set cards and a Monster Reborn. Monster Reborn allowed Shane to take Robert’s Stratos and use it to fetch out another copy of Elemental Hero Prisma! Shane swung to knock Lim’s life points in half, and both players were one hit away from elimination! Shane passed with his two back-row cards and Lim drew up to three in hand. He needed to play around any potential Solemn Judgment cards, so he made a set to each zone. Shane drew, and had a choice to make. He had just picked up Test Tiger, and he used Phoenix Wing Wind Blast to pitch Test Tiger and send Lim’s monster on top of the deck! Threatening Roar saved the game for Robert Lim, and Shane considered his last card in hand: Elemental Hero Prisma. Shane didn’t have Solemn Judgment, because he would have won right there if he did. This bit of information might have given Lim the ammo needed to win the duel, but he didn’t seem happy with redrawing his monster from last turn. He could play defensively again, but any Gladiator Beast would win the game for Shane. Lim dropped Dark Grepher and pitched Strike Ninja to send Malicious to the yard. He crashed Grepher into Prisma and then brought a Malicious out to protect himself. Any monster bigger than a Malicious would win, and Shane pulled down a Darius to clinch the game and the match!
Robert Lim is out, but Shane Scurry is alive at 8-2, waiting to see if Lady Luck will smile as favorably on his tiebreakers as they did on his final match!